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The German‑Russian Year

Logo of the Germany Year in Russia

For a whole year, Germany and Russia together hosted events under the slogan “Germany and Russia –shaping the future together” in the fields of culture, education, research, politics and business. Further exciting projects are planned in the field of cultural relations. This summer will see the launch of a year of German language and literature in Russia and a parallel year of Russian language and literature in Germany, both of which will run until the summer of 2015.

The Germany Year in the Russian Federation 2012/2013 notched up some impressive statistics: twelve months, over a thousand events in more than 50 Russian regions, countless thrilled visitors and a continuous flood of positive feedback from the public and the Russian media. The exhibition “Bronze Age: Europe without Borders” in St Petersburg, which was opened by Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin on 21 June 2013, was thus the crowning culmination of a unique year and also itself an illustration of our vibrant German-Russian partnership.

The Bronze Age exhibits are reminders of a time long past when borders did not yet play a role in Europe. More than 1700 artefacts from the participating museums traced cultural, social and religious developments across Bronze Age Europe. The exhibition was unusual in that it included numerous pieces of war-displaced cultural property which had not been seen in this form by the general public for the past 70 years. Some 600 artefacts on display originated in Germany. The fact that they were shown despite the ongoing legal disputes regarding the return of cultural property can be considered a special success. In this way, too, the curators overcame national borders.

Long years of hard work under the German-Russian Museums Dialogue finally bore tangible fruit with this cooperative project involving the State Hermitage Museum (St Petersburg), the State Historical Museum (Moscow), the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow) and the Museum of Pre- and Early History as part of the National Museums in Berlin. After closing in St Petersburg, the exhibition opened in the Moscow State Historical Museum on 15 October 2013 to great media and public acclaim, where it remained until 13 January 2014.

At the original opening in St Petersburg on 21 June 2013, Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Vladimir Putin immediately announced the next “crossover” year. A year of German language and literature in Russia and a parallel year of Russian language and literature in Germany will run from the summer of 2014 until the summer of 2015.

More information about the events and projects of the Germany Year can be found on the website of the Germany Year in Russia and the Russia Year in Germany: